My
Current Research:
Since June 2007, I have been working with Dr. Jim Murphy on atmospheric modeling of Mars. From June 2007 to present I have been using the NASA AMES Mars-GCM, in conjunction with data from the Viking Landers and Pathfinder, as well as the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) on Mars Global Surveyor. Since March 2008 I have also been working with the GITM/MWACM model in development at the University of Michigan.
Previous Research Projects:
Fall 2006-Spring 2007:
I have worked with Dr. Cornelia Lang and Allison Mercer at the University of Iowa, analyzing 8.5 and 22.5 GHz radio observations of seven luminous blue variable sources, massive stars within an important, but short-lived, evolutionary phase marked by extreme mass-loss events. My honors thesis was based on these data, and examined the compact and nebular structures associated with the stellar source AFGL 2298. I determined the spectral index of the radio emission and calculated mass-loss rates, and examined the associated expansion into the surrounding interstellar medium.
Summer 2006:
I was a summer research assistant at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Socorro, NM during 2006. I worked with Dr. Bryan Butler to create a radar map of the Martian surface, reducing and analyzing data collected by using the Goldstone 70-meter antenna as a transmitter and the Very Large Array (VLA) as a receiver during the 2003 Mars opposition. I focused upon the lava flows in the Elysium and Tharsis volcanic regions, to understand their strong, yet varied, reflectivity at 3.5 cm by evaluating age, composition, and morphology variations between the regions.
Since June 2007, I have been working with Dr. Jim Murphy on atmospheric modeling of Mars. From June 2007 to present I have been using the NASA AMES Mars-GCM, in conjunction with data from the Viking Landers and Pathfinder, as well as the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) on Mars Global Surveyor. Since March 2008 I have also been working with the GITM/MWACM model in development at the University of Michigan.
Previous Research Projects:
Fall 2006-Spring 2007:
I have worked with Dr. Cornelia Lang and Allison Mercer at the University of Iowa, analyzing 8.5 and 22.5 GHz radio observations of seven luminous blue variable sources, massive stars within an important, but short-lived, evolutionary phase marked by extreme mass-loss events. My honors thesis was based on these data, and examined the compact and nebular structures associated with the stellar source AFGL 2298. I determined the spectral index of the radio emission and calculated mass-loss rates, and examined the associated expansion into the surrounding interstellar medium.
Summer 2006:
I was a summer research assistant at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Socorro, NM during 2006. I worked with Dr. Bryan Butler to create a radar map of the Martian surface, reducing and analyzing data collected by using the Goldstone 70-meter antenna as a transmitter and the Very Large Array (VLA) as a receiver during the 2003 Mars opposition. I focused upon the lava flows in the Elysium and Tharsis volcanic regions, to understand their strong, yet varied, reflectivity at 3.5 cm by evaluating age, composition, and morphology variations between the regions.